DEMO FEST 2025: Bangers & Stompers
Earworms, mind-smashers, and gut-driven anthems.
Don’t listen to punkmaxxers telling you you’re failing in life. The Anthropocene is a cluster-fuck, and there’s no need to pile any unnecessary pressure on yourself. Power-brokers and war-mongers are already working hard to ruin your life, so don’t beat yourself up for feeling overwhelmed. The system isn’t geared to support your well-being. It’s geared to extract everything from you… and then demand more.
Hardcore punk once felt like an antidote to that system. It felt like a viable alternative; a tool to carve out some much-needed, system-free space. Of course, this was before we all developed Insta-Stockholm syndrome. Before same-day deliveries, De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, and zero-hour contracts became de rigour. These days, corporate entities routinely strip-mine hardcore punk’s culture and aesthetic, and the scene’s autonomy has long been compromised.
Reality is messy, and so is the state of hardcore punk. So what do we do to right the ship? I don’t know! I’m as old as the hills, and as thick as a brick.
But The Counterforce has a few ideas for fixing things.
Any project that encourages us to wrestle hardcore punk out of corporate hands is on the right path. Spotify, or a seemingly benign platform like Bandcamp, don’t give a fuck about punk’s values. It’s cool to have instant access to a million albums at the touch of a button. But we’re not beneficiaries of any kind of corporate benevolence. Tech villains enslave our attention, sell our data, and destroy our minds for profit. All of us (you, me, and the bands we love) are resources to be exploited.
Admittedly, at this point, I likely sound like an old man yelling at the clouds. But The Counterforce isn’t a nostalgia-driven initiative. The Counterforce is forward-thinking and interested in future-proofing hardcore punk’s self-determination. The Counterforce’s mission is simple: “rather than funnel punk into profit-driven walled gardens, we want to foment and encourage a culture that is autonomous and independent”. Sounds great to me!
At the tail end of 2025, The Counterforce launched the second edition of DEMO FEST, where 70+ bands and musicians recorded exclusive demos, acting as a fundraiser for Solidarity Across Borders, a Montréal-based group providing direct support to those “confronting an unjust immigration and refugee system”. Below are a few standout DEMO FEST recordings that caught my ear. Keep in mind, this feature isn’t supposed to be a ‘Best Of’ DEMO FEST round-up. Punk isn’t a competition, and I’ve likely overlooked plenty of interesting releases.
I love demos. Whether they’re a non-stop, visceral sprint or a gentler stroll, a demo is a declaration of wanting to be heard. Here’s to all the raw noise and raw passion gathered below. And here’s to the DIY spirit of underground and independent hardcore punk.
Lastly, I’m flying blind on most of the band histories below. Few bio details were available online, so apologies for the lack of hot gossip and/or spicy intel. I struggled to find much background information on most bands. On the plus side, it’s all about the music below.
Thanks for tuning in.
Peace
C
1 Synaptic Isolation Syndrome – Consuming Mental Isolation
I wouldn’t recommend it as a way to navigate all of life’s complexities, but judging a book by its cover certainly works in the world of hardcore punk. Take a look at the cover of Synaptic Isolation Syndrome’s Consuming Mental Isolation demo, where an unwashed figure sits next to a few bottles of xxx-hooch. We all know what that signifies: the filthiest crust in town.
That’s exactly what Montréal-based Synaptic Isolation Syndrome deliver. (And that’s not a huge surprise, given the band’s DNA, with former/current members of Warkrusher, Portal Tomb, and Eulogy in the ranks.) Synaptic Isolation Syndrome’s audio assault is a dark collision of crasher crust, raw punk, and the grottiest d-beat around. Guttural songs like “CMI”, “Catastrophic Violence”, and “Stagnant” are rotten to the core; channelling the wall-of-noise intensity of Gloom, Abraham Cross, Doom, and Physique. If you like putrid noise, keep an ear out for Synaptic Isolation Syndrome’s next move. A hugely promising demo.
2 Egide – Demo
Egide’s demo is a knockout, with the four-track onslaught sounding more than ready to anchor the front line of a shield wall. Recorded at Québec’s Musthrash studio, Egide’s demo features downtuned, stench-heavy tracks that hit home like old-school classics. Songs like “Culte de la chasse” and “Le silence des victimes” walk the line between gloom-drenched metalpunk and blackened crust, and Egide balance crushing momentum and atmospheric passages, mirroring the wild, expansive spirit of their demo’s cover art. Astonishingly good. Highly recommended. 10/10.
3 Bastard Idol – Demo 2025
Bastard Idol’s Demo 2025 is exhilarating. Ferocious tracks like “Life”, “Battlefield”, and “IMF” feature a Tokyo-via-Helsinki punch, plenty of phased-fucked riffage, and battering drums from Hell. Singer Melody provides the throat-scouring howls, while multi-instrumentalist Emily handles the rest of the band’s Noise Room-worthy racket. If you worship at the altar of Physique, Framtid, or Gloom, you’ll love this sonic slaughterhouse. I can’t recommend Bastard Idol’s demo enough. (It’s no surprise Broken Skull Records snapped Bastard Idol’s demo up; it’s a roaring success.)
4 Soot – Demo ‘25
Soot’s Demo ‘25 starts with a piercing wail of feedback that segues into a gouging riff. From thereon, it’s an über-dark, hardcore fiesta. Soot’s vocalist howls and growls over 90-second tracks that feature enough grit and grunt to hold your attention. It’s often those vocals that hook you, though. They’re almost eccentric without being ‘arty’, and psychotic levels of anger radiate off all of Soot’s migraine-inducing tracks. It would have been cool to see some lyrics here, but Soot’s demo is still a rage-fueled ripper.
5 Recall – Demo II
Montréal band Recall self-released their first demo in 2024, followed by a self-titled EP in 2025, which was released on vinyl by 11 PM Records and on cassette by Broken Skull Records. Demo II is the band’s most blown-out/acidic-sounding release thus far. Tracks like “Apathy” and “Isolation” are red-raw in tooth and claw, and Demo II definitely scrapes its fingers down a few chalkboards. Those are all major pluses in my book, and with the world in meltdown mode, there’s something especially resonant about Recall’s degraded and corrosive sound. (Right-on lyrics, too.)
6 Kosovo – Morora
Until recently, Montréal power trio Kosovo went by the name Purple Dog, and they’re the only band on this list to cite hard rockers like Ty Segall and Jack White as inspirations. If you’re a fan of garage rock or the rawer end of psych-rock canon, then great news; there are plenty of energetic melodies and guitar histrionics on Kosovo’s Morora demo. Most people checking out DEMO FEST’s submissions are probably looking for more punk-powered recordings, but if you want something to break up the noise-scape, Morora awaits. Fans of sizzling hard rock will dig Kosovo’s musical direction.
7 It Chooses You – Demo ’25
It Chooses You’s Demo ‘25 features six fired-up songs recorded in a lo-fi style. Most of the tracks here barely scrape the one-minute mark, and every song is loose, scruffy, and driven by buzzsawing instrumentation. Vocalist Rae howls over a caustic cacophony that calls to mind raw punk powered by abundant riot grrrl rage. I bet this stuff goes off at a crammed basement show or an anarchist bookshop gig. It Chooses You’s demo is 100% unpolished, but that’s no criticism. It Chooses You’s passion and commitment to the cause are writ large.
8 Hands Of Chaos – Into The… Hands Of Chaos
Listening to Into the… Hands of Chaos feels like watching a band claw their way out of a coffin. Hands of Chaos’s demo is a genuine hidden gem, featuring claustrophobic post-punk that sounds like Joy Division playing a jam-packed, secret gig in a crypt. The production here is deliberately murky, bathing Hands of Chaos’s tracks in a fuliginous fuzz that only adds to their allure. The band’s ice-cold guitars, ghoulish vocals, and six-feet-under basslines are dragged across a desolate industrial landscape, with Hands of Chaos constructing fevered nightmares along the way. Haunting and mysterious; an encore-worthy demo.
9 Fleshwaste – Demo
Fleshwaste’s demo features incomprehensible grunts, norovirus-like retches, and pitch-black, swamp-oozing riffage. The structure of a ‘song’ appears ever-so-briefly at the start of “Meat”, but the rest of Fleshwaste’s demo is a wash of noisome gurgles and noisenik static. I won’t pretend I know what’s happening here; it’s like the rawest punk and death-stonk vomited up by a sub-basement black metal band. Definite marks for putting it all out there, though! Fleshwaste’s demo lies somewhere between noisecore and the darkest death rattle. Gruesome ear-gunk.
10 Condolence – Grief Concealer
Ottawa’s post-dance-punk duo Condolence prove that DIY punk can still sound sleek and sexy. The band’s Grief Concealer demo marries icy post-punk to the (synth-and-bass-driven) heat of a frenzied dancefloor. The five punchy tracks here are purpose-built to get you moving, and Grief Concealer’s hook-heavy opener, “Close Your Eyes”, features the perfect blend of propulsion and adrenaline-spiked energy. Grief Concealer is urgent, emotive, and made to drag you out of your seat. (Note: basslines to die for, too.)
11 Cloned – Hand and One Half
Cloned’s Hand and One Half sounds like the perfect demo to listen to in a gloomy cemetery. The two tracks here (“Hand and One Half” and “Kiss the Knife”) mix the angst of gothic rock with wistful post-punk and the sharper bite of death punk. Everything here is as haunting as it is infectious, with Cloned’s graveyard melodies enveloping all. Hand and One Half’s title track is a genuine heart-breaker that’ll burrow deep into your corrupted soul. Long shadows and wind-swept moors, we all love a little anguish and sorrow, right?
12 Amargi – La única respuesta: la anarquía
Punchy, passionate, and breathless: that’s Amargi’s La única respuesta: la anarquía demo in a nutshell. For those who don’t speak Spanish, and that includes me, you won’t need to hire a translator. Amargi’s message is loud and clear; this is politically charged hardcore, (d-)beating down your door. Barcelona label Atemptat Sonor recently added Amargi’s demo to their Bandcamp page, so that might mean a little more (well-deserved) visibility for the band. I couldn’t find any intel about Amargi online, but all you really need to know is that the band’s demo features fired-up anarcho-action that’s a perfect fit for fans of dramatic punk.
13 Picea – Boreal Raw Punk
Picea’s Boreal Raw Punk demo doesn’t hide behind any affectations or pretensions; it just goes for the fucking throat, with ice-cold hostility. The hypothermic growl of black metal is married to the gruesome grit of raw hardcore, and Picea’s “default to defiance” mantra bleeds into every track. In a complicated world, Picea’s commitment to straight-up, misanthropic chaos is kind of refreshing. Grim, combative, and utterly uncompromising.
14 Neglect – Keychain
If you’re hankering for a kick in the teeth, look no further than Keychain. Neglect’s high-octane demo features three hardcore bangers delivered at powerviolence speeds. Neglect vocalist Riley also takes care of guitar and bass, while drummer Tristan contributes triple-speed percussion to the duo’s demo. Opening track “Prove” absolutely rips, with caustic feedback slamming into a wall of raw distortion. Neglect’s demo shows real potential, and I’d be keen to hear the band dial the heaviness up even higher. Yet another group to keep a close eye on.
15 Normal Now – Demo
Normal Now’s three-track demo is annihilating. Opening track “Hidden Defect” hurls all-guns-blazing hardcore at you at warp speed, and following songs, “Public Wound” and “Attitude” are just as fast, and equally intense. No notes: some demos arrive fully formed and honed to the edge, and Normal Now’s demo is a definite heavy-hitter. Drummer Kelly and multi-instrumentalist and singer Evan have crafted a bruising debut.
16 Trenchcoat – Demo
Trenchcoat’s demo mixes wall-punching hardcore with sharp-edged anxiety. Tracks like “Red String” and “Garden of Forking Paths” are rough and tough, evoking the primitive ‘trouble-making’ vibes of early hardcore. That said, Trenchcoat aren’t thug-core, bullies. “The Sisters” thrums with a whip-smart post-punk pulse, while “Our Game” twists riffs into artier, albeit still thoroughly demented, shapes. The band rail against a laundry list of modern ills, and Trenchcoat’s hardcore will leave a few tasty, masochistic scars.
17 Maux Marquis – Demaux
Maux Marquis’s gritty electro-punk foregrounds Dalek-like vocals and fist-pumping propulsion. Once you’re on board, there’s no getting off. From the juddering high-voltage of “Please” and “Sécateurs” to the hook-laden precision of “Monarch” and “Pile sur glace,” Maux Marquis’s demo remains fiercely sassy and explicitly political. It’s all totally outside my usual wheelhouse, but I’m sold. I’m pretty sure that signals a great demo: Très bien, mon ami.
